Consumer Groups Answer Industry Critics of Backup Power Bid To Ensure 911 Access
The FCC should require industry to do more to ensure emergency communications, consumer groups said, responding to critics of their petition to reconsider tech transition backup power rules (see 1601040056). “The public safety is very much at stake. Back-up power…
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requirements are necessary,” said the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates and others in a filing Tuesday in docket 14-174. The FCC rules require fixed providers to give consumers the option of purchasing eight hours -- and 24 hours within three years -- of backup power capability (see 1508100041). The groups said it wasn’t surprising that industry parties opposed the petition, which seeks to require landline carriers to provide greater backup power guarantees. The opponents believe a stronger mandate would be too burdensome and 911 service should be optional and customers should pay for that reliability, the consumer groups said. “But access to 911 is mandated by regulation, and the costs of that access were spread throughout the industry and consumers … just as the cost of back-up power would be,” they said. “The decision was made years ago that the public safety embodied in 911 should not be optional." The groups compared backup power to having seat belts in cars, which is not optional. The opponents stress that many consumers rely solely on wireless voice services, the consumer groups said, but many others use IP-based voice services over cable, fiber and other landline networks. “Many consumers are thus forced to turn to the IP-based services for replacing legacy services,” they said. “The question is whether these IP-based services, like the legacy services they replace, should be designed and engineered to work in times of emergency. If the enduring values are to be preserved, the answer must be affirmative.” Wireless isn’t always available and where it is, it often isn’t reliable and can become overloaded in emergencies, they said.